It’s time to make marriage equality an American tradition

There is a scene in the film "Fiddler on the Roof" where Tevye, a devout Jew living in a small village in czarist Russia, desperately struggles with the decision of Chava, his youngest daughter, to marry outside the faith.

How can I accept them, can I deny everything I believe in? On the other hand, can I deny my own daughter?On the other hand, how can I turn my back on my faith, my people? If I try and bend that far, I'll break.On the other hand...No! There is no other hand!

Graham, one of four Republicans in the bipartisan Gang of Eight, explained last week to a packed Judiciary Committee hearing room why he could not support the UAFA. "You've got me on immigration" Graham said. "You don't have me on marriage. Let's keep this about immigration".

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Graham courageously joined forces with Senate Democrats to produce the most extensive overhaul of immigration law in decades. But when it came to the UAFA he had "no other hand."

But cold, harsh political reality forced the amendment's withdrawal. It was obvious those senators believed its passage would have torn apart bipartisan support for the immigration bill at the cost of comprehensive reform this year.

The Judiciary Committee’s failure to add the UAFA amendment was reminiscent of the defeat of the DREAM Act in 2010. There were the same tears, the same disbelief and the same sense of abandonment. But like the DREAMERs in 2010, the LGBT community and its allies will not take no for an answer. The fight for immigration equality will continue. America is changing, and so will those who today stubbornly oppose it.

After all, in the end, even Tevye gave his daughter his blessing.

Leopold is general counsel and past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.